“Now that you mention it...” Misha turned to look at Geord sitting across from her as she took a sip of tea. “When we first met, you said one of the People of the Forest saved you, right? What exactly happened?”
The medicine had arrived, and the Red Eye plague had started to recede. Now, Misha’s main concern was lingering symptoms of the disease. On one particular day, while she was running about trying to make plans to handle them, Misha found time for a small breather with Geord and Miranda, and so she sat down for some tea with them.
“Oh? This sounds interesting,” Miranda said, partaking in some tea cakes.
“It’s not that big of a deal. Back when I was a mercenary, I was badly wounded in battle, and one of the People of the Forest treated me. Didn’t I already tell you this story, Misha?” Geord asked, stuffing a cake into his own mouth as well.
“Nope, I’ve never heard it. What was your injury like?”
“I was cut up all over, and my arm was practically sliced off,” Geord said, rolling up his sleeve.
Misha happily scooted around the table to inspect his arm. “The scar is mostly gone, huh?” A scar ran in a clean, straight line around his arm, five centimeters below his elbow.
“Probably because it was almost ten years ago,” Geord said. Judging by his expression, Geord found the sensation of Misha tracing the scar with her fingers to be a bit ticklish.
“Hmm. It looks like it really was severed at one point. Can you move your fingers for me?” Nel popped into the room, inserting himself into the conversation.
Geord did as requested, and the old man stared. Though this kind of reaction was common enough, there was something different about the way Nel looked at him that made Geord uncomfortable. Most people wouldn’t believe that an arm once severed could be reconnected. Whenever he brought up this story, people usually thought of him as just a liar. But the People of the Forest, Misha included, would instead ponder how such a thing had been accomplished, not whether Geord was telling the truth.
“Ten years ago, was it?” Nel murmured to himself. He was putting Geord’s arm through a series of tests, such as rolling his wrist and clenching his fingers. “We confirmed that a limb could be reattached without losing function about four years ago. It seems the one who discovered this technique might have used you as an experiment.”
“You can do that?” Misha’s eyes went wide, remembering Shydein, who had lost his arm on the battlefield. “If more people knew how, then maybe Shydein wouldn’t have lost his arm.”
“Shydein, huh? His arm seemed to have been severed fairly cleanly. If he had received the treatment immediately, he might still have retained as much function as Geord here,” Nel replied, holding Geord’s arm in his hands and inspecting it from a few different angles. “Then I wouldn’t be forced to deal with him like I am now. We really need to spread this technique as fast as possible...” he muttered, displeasure evident on his face.
Misha had introduced the two, saying that Shydein was one of her father’s knights, and ever since then, the ex-captain had popped up to harass Nel any time he stepped a foot out the door. Shydein was remarkably well-informed. If he was from Bluheitz like Misha said, he was impressively well-connected for a foreigner. His help had made Nel’s efforts toward gathering information go remarkably smoothly, but that unfortunately made ignoring Shydein’s request much harder.
Apparently he was looking for a prosthetic that could function reasonably well as a replacement arm. Consequently, he was hoping Nel would introduce him to someone who could accomplish that.
Miles said he was looking for a robust specimen to work on, so I shouldn’t have a problem with bringing him back...
But seeing how bright and energetic Shydein was as he interacted with the locals, Nel didn’t think the man needed the help in the least, so he hesitated to accept Shydein’s request.
Meanwhile, Geord’s eyes lit up. “Do you have techniques for replacing arms like that?”
Geord was originally a mercenary who had, by pure chance, caught Ryan’s interest in battle and so been hired as his personal guard. Naturally, Geord had experienced countless battles himself. Lucky for Ryan, Geord had been spared the fate of losing his arm, but he had plenty of friends who hadn’t been so lucky.
“Oh, is that of interest to you?” Nel had taken Misha’s curiosity for granted, but Geord’s attention came as a bit more of a surprise.
“As I’m sure you are aware, there are many soldiers who lose limbs on the battlefield. If there’s a technique to reconnect them, many of them could live normal lives again, like I have.”
Nel shrugged. “I suppose so. For now, our priority is raising the average skill of doctors in general. There are too many who don’t understand the makeup of the human body. Even in a kingdom as large as Redford, there are doctors who have never inspected a cadaver. It’s mind-boggling.” Apparently having had his fill of inspecting Geord’s arm, Nel released it and took a seat. “But if you’re really that interested, you should talk to Ryne about it,” he said offhandedly as he asked a nearby maid to get him some tea.
Misha tilted her head. “Uncle Ryne?”
“That’s right. He’s the one who perfected the technique in the first place.”
“What?!” Misha shouted in surprise, but Nel had already moved on, focused entirely on the sweets on the table.
Seeing he had lost interest in the discussion, Misha instead turned to Miranda. “Did you know that, Miranda?”
The anticipation in Misha’s eyes brought a pained smile to Miranda’s face. “Yes, I suppose. I’d heard stories of it, but I’m afraid I don’t know the details. Ryne has always had an interest in the human body. When he was little, he played with anatomical models as if they were toys. The moment he was recognized as a young adult, he bolted out of the village. He was probably already looking into methods of stitching and suturing that didn’t leave damaging side effects back then.”
In the same way Miranda and Leyas had played with medicinal herbs, Ryne had played with models of the human body. He had shown a talent for hunting when the adults had brought him along, but after some time, they’d discovered he had only been tagging along for the experience in dissecting and butchering the animals. Back then, the girls had just been happy he was sharing meat with them.
Leyas was complaining about Ryne practicing his stitching on their preserved meats before he was even ten... Miranda recalled.
As Misha bubbled in excitement over how incredible her uncle was, Miranda started to hesitate over how much she should actually share about him. But before she could make a decision either way, a hand reached over her shoulder to take a sandwich from the table.
“Wow, you guys sure seem to be living it up. I’ve been dragged through so many meetings, I haven’t even had time to eat,” the man in question grumbled, dropping into a seat beside Miranda.
As a punishment for going to see Leyas and Misha in secret, Miranda had left all the negotiating with Redford’s officials to Ryne. When Nel had also run away from the responsibility, Ryne had been left as the sole connection point between Redford and the People of the Forest. He was easily the busiest of all of them. He was a skilled and adaptable man, so he had no problems dealing with the responsibility they had shoved in his lap, but the unfamiliar work was enough to stress him out, leaving him in a rather poor mood recently.